ORAS Doubles OU Mega Gardevoir & H-Rotom Core

[Mareth]

Team at a glance:

​

In depth analysis:


Gardevoir @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Synchronize / Pixilate
EVs: 252 SpA/252 Spe/4 SpD
Nature: Timid
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Protect

Aside from being my favorite Pokemon since it came out, Gardevoir serves as the main sweeper. Hyper Voice is as pretty standard as it gets. Psyshock is preferred over Psychic due to it's ability and provides Poison coverage. I opted to go Shadow Ball over Focus Blast due to a) Focus Blast having terrible accuracy and b) Shadow Ball provides coverage and hits most Trick Room setters hard.

H-Rotom @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA/252 HP/4 Spe
Nature: Modest
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt
- Dark Pulse
- Protect

H-Rotom was put onto the team in order to protect Gardevoir from Steel types as well as bringing it's own typing power. With Choice Specs, H-Rotom's two STAB moves, Overheat and Thunderbolt, hit very hard and is able to KO or 2HKO most threats in the scene. Dark Pulse is there due to needing a Dark attack and having Volt Switch would be counterproductive due to Choice Specs. Protect is here despite having Choice Specs because it allows me to stall a turn knowing I'll have to switch out and many things can happen in a turn.

NOTE: I have considered switching Rotom with Heatran to have a stronger attacker, but I wouldn't know how to go about it because if Heatran comes in, I would imagine Lucario has to come out. I'm open to ideas for this one.

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 232 HP/84 Def/112 SpA/80 SpD
Nature: Bold
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Tailwind
- Protect

As of now, Suicune meshes with this team quite well. His bulkiness allows him to survive hits and has never gotten 1HKO. Scald is the main STAB attack and Ice Beam is there due to it's great offensive typing which hit Garchomp, Landorus, and Thundurus hard. Tailwind is there for team support when needed in order to allow the sweepers to do their job.

Togekiss @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP/252 SpD/4 SpA
Nature: Calm
- Air Slash
- Follow Me
- Tailwind
- Roost

Togekiss is an all around great user of Follow Me. His bulkiness allows him to take one or two super effective moves and allows for the others to fight without worry. Air Slash is used as an offensive presence as well as flinch. Tailwind is there for team support when extra speed. Roost helps Togekiss recover after it's taken a beating for the team. The reason I put Safety Goggles on Togekiss is to draw in spore moves and practically make them useless.

Roserade @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA/252 Spe/4 SpD
Nature: Timid
- Energy Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Aromatherapy
- Protect

Personally, I find Roserade to be a very strong Pokemon. With base 125 SpA and 90 Spe boosted in Tailwind, Roserade becomes a scary sweeper. Roserade brings a lot to the team. As a sweeper, Energy Ball and Sludge Bomb both have STAB and help combat areas in which her teammates lack. Energy Ball is for the bulkier Pokemon that Suicune can't take down and Sludge Bomb is used against Fairies or those who resist Energy Ball. Aromatherapy allows Roserade to cure her teammates of annoying statuses.

Lucario @ Choice Band
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Att/252 Spe/4 HP
Nature: Jolly
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Bullet Punch
- Protect

After a long thinking period, I came up with Lucario for my last slot. Lucario brings some much needed physical and typing offense to the team. With Choice Band and base 110 Attack, Lucario is bound to hit hard if the Pokemon does not resist it. Close Combat allows me to beat/switch out the likes of Kangaskhan and Terrakion. Earthquake is there because it's an all around great move and doesn't hurt the team. Bullet Punch is some much needed Steel offense and usually 1HKO's Fairies. Protect is there for the same reason it's there on Rotom; one turn stall then switch out.

NOTE: I have considered switching out Lucario for something better if Rotom is indeed switched out for Heatran. Despite being a great offensive threat, I find Lucario to be very fragile and usually dies in one hit and makes the battle a bit more difficult. I'm open to suggestions.


Checks and Counters:

* Bulky Trick Room setters and Trick Room as a whole. When I come up against a Trick Room team, I usually if not always lose. As a main Trick Room user myself, I don't know how to beat myself when I am put up against it. Eviolite Dusclops and Cresselia are two bulks which I cannot KO before they set up Trick Room and my entire team gets crippled.

* Flinches. I know there is nothing I can do about this, but whenever one of my Pokemon flinch, it feels as if the entire match turns all because I couldn't set up a crucial Tailwind or finish off a threat.

I can't think of anything else, but if you see a counter or check to this team, I'd love to know.



Anyways, that about wraps up my RMT. I put a lot of effort into writing this and creating this team, so I would honestly appreciate any and all feedback. Thanks in advance! I'll check this in the morning as I'm heading off to bed. :)

 

[shaian]

Umm, you have two Choice Mons with Protect, so that would be the first change. Your reasoning for it is completely flawed to be honest, since stalling a turn in that fashion is counterproductive, perhaps if you explained in further detail the logic behind it...

Anyway, the more in-depth stuff:

1. Gardevoir: Ghost coverage is, I don't wanna say redundant, but it is a poor choice on Mega Gardevoir, since common ghosts are either taken out in 2 hits with Hyper Voice just as they are by Shadow Ball, or are already ohko'd by one of her stab moves, such as Gengar dying to Psyshock, or Sableye to Hyper Voice. For that reason, I would advise you to swap out Shadow Ball for a different move, with the following being great options: Hidden Power [Ground], Ally Switch, Focus Blast, Trick Room, and going further into her bag of tricks, moves such as Icy Wind, Heal Pulse, Will-o-Wisp, and Thunder Wave. Obviously each of these moves are very different, but having tried them all on Gardevoir before, I can attest to them all being far more useful options than Shadow Ball.

Move Change Reasons

Hidden Power [Ground]: This is primarily for Heatrans who have the ability to just sit in front of Gardevoir for days and she can't do anything back. It also hits Chandelure, Aegislash quite hard.
Ally Switch: Originally more of a VGC move, Ally Switch has become a more common sight on Gardevoir, and can be used to great effect if one can predict decently. Switching partners to absorb a Psychic or Dragon type move for the partner is great, and can really swing momentum in your favour.
Focus Blast: Shaky accuracy, but great for hitting Kangaskhan, Heatran, and Tyranitar really hard.
Trick Room: Speed control, and with a little redirection, it helps set up what I like to call an "impromptu trick room", where you have normally fast mons in your trick room, but only because your opponent has faster ones :J
Icy Wind: More speed control, and can really mess up your opponent if they were expecting to get an easy switch into fast things which can beat Gardevoir, such as Landorus-T, Kangaskhan, or Charizard.
Heal Pulse: A shaky option, but one I found works well when you stack offensive pressure, like a rain team with LO Kingdra who can consistently knock out both opponents out in 1 turn, Gardevoir can either clean up with Hyper Voice or heal LO recoil with Heal Pulse.
Will-o-Wisp: No one really expects Gardevoir to cripple physical attackers, so if you can predict a switch to one, you can just cripple it easily with Will-o-Wisp.
Thunder Wave: Same as above, expect for fast threats, like Mega Mence, Latios, Terrakion, and stuff like that.

2. Rotom-H: Probably switch to a Scarf Set, and swap out Dark Pulse for Hidden Power [Ice], since Dark Pulse doesn't really do much for you, and Hidden Power can be used to pick off 4x weak Dragons that outrun you, as well as Landorus-T. I would also switch Protect for either Trick or Will-o-Wisp. Trick can ruin support mons, such as Trick Room setters, or Fake Out users, helping your matchup against certain archetypes. Will-o-Wisp can be used to cripple physical sweepers and then switch out, it's a cool way to use a scarf set since now you can use it for a fast support mon.

3. Suicune: Not much to change here, though it could be useful to run some speed, probably around 20 Spe (from SpD) which hits 211, allowing it to outrun 80 Spe Heatran and damage it before it subs, and also to outrun 252 Spe Adamant Scarf Lando-T, when you're in Tailwind.

4. Togekiss: I recommend taking 56 SpD EV's and putting them into Def, this lets you always like 2 LO Terrakion Rock Slides, which can be helpful for setting up Tailwind, and for getting around some of those flinching issues, since you can try and Tailwind against other Rock Slide users and just outrun them.

5. Roserade: Honestly, you're probably better off going with a Ferrothorn or Amoonguss, which are both much better meta picks for a Grass type. Both can be used for fairy resistances, and Ferro just kind of beats fairies in general. Though if you wanna use Roserade (honestly one of the coolest looking mons in general, and I like it way more than Ferro and Amoong), you might wanna try Technician with Hidden Power [Fire]. This way you can beat Scizor much easier, since it looks like it gives your team quite a problem, outside of Rotom-H.

6. Lucario: Probably better off using Life Orb over Choice Band. The extra power probably isn't buying you an KO's that Life Orb can't get, and being locked into a move kinda sucks. Also considering you're using Protect, Life Orb just makes much more sense.

That's all I got, good luck mate :J

 

[Mareth]

Thanks for the tips, Shaian!

For Gardevoir, I understand and agree with the reasoning behind not running Shadow Ball. Out of the options you presented to me which all seem viable, I like Hidden Power Ground the most. I'll give that a try.

Rotom, I don't really like the Scarf set because Rotom loses some of it's sheer power given to it by Specs which allow it to be more of a sweeper, but I'll definitely try Hidden Power Ice and Trick.

I'll make the switch in Suicune's EVs because I agree with it.

Togekiss: Would making it a Bold nature and keeping the EV spread be as ideal of just switching the EVs?

What I like about Roserade is her sweeping capabilities and so far, she hasn't failed me one bit. I'll try and put in Hidden Power Fire because it provides good utility, but I'll have to think about what to remove.

And as for Lucario, you're right with the Orb.

Thanks once more! :)

 

[shaian]

On the togekiss, running 252 HP / 252 SpD Bold gives you a Def stat of 248 and a SpD stat of 329, whereas 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpD Calm gives you a Def stat of 240 and SpD stat of 347. In my opinion, I would say the extra SpD is more needed than the 8 extra Def, since it doesn't really buy much.